Fixture for supporting rotary display racks

ABSTRACT

A fixture for supporting as many as three or more vertical rotary display racks. The fixture generally includes a pair of floor or counter, or wall supported base members, a substantially horizontal bar mounted on the base members and a plurality of specially constructed members slidably mounted on the support bar, each of which rotatably supports a vertical shaft of a rotary display rack. There is provided at each end of the horizontal support bar a pair of members, preferably identical to the vertical shaft supporting members, but mounted in inverted positions on the horizontal bar to mount the bar on its base members.

United States Patent 1 Coblentz et a1.

[ FIXTURE FOR SUPPORTING ROTARY DISPLAY RACKS [75] Inventors: Bernard S. Coblentz, Paxton;

Vincent F. White, Lunenburg, both of Mass.

[73] Assignee: Foster Grant Co., Inc., Leominster,

Mass.

22 Filed: Mar. 15, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 124,144

[52] US. Cl 211/123, 211/131, 248/214 [51] Int. Cl. A41f 5/02, A47k 10/04 [58] Field of Search ..211/131,163, 123,

[ June 19, 1973 2,665,869 l/1954 Samuels 248/214 3,435,955 4/1969 Brunette 211/123 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 36,028 2/1967 Finland 211/87' Primary ExaminerRamon S. Britts Att0mey-Leroy G. Sinn, Leonard S. Selman and Cole man R. Reap [5 7] ABSTRACT A fixture for supporting as many as three or more vertical rotary display racks. The fixture generally includes a pair of floor or counter, or wall supported base members, a substantially horizontal bar mounted on the base members and a plurality of specially constructed members slidably mounted on the support bar, each of which rotatably supports a vertical shaft of a rotary display rack. There is provided at each end of the horizontal support bar a pair of members, preferably identical to the vertical shaft supporting members, but mounted in inverted positions on the horizontal bar to mount the bar on its base members.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEHJIIMW 3339.920

sum 1 or a [F I G IN VE N TORS.

BERNARD SJCOBLIENTZ and VINCENT WHITE BYWAJ-OM ATTORNEY.

PAIENIEDJIJNIBW 3.739.920

INVENTORS BERNARD s.

7COBLENTZ 0nd VINCENT W F. WHITE PAIENIEDJWQ'BB I 3739.920

sum 3 0f 3 v/NVENTORS 42 BERNARD SCOBLENTZ [F I G 6 0nd VINCENT F WHITE BY flmamv/jg mfi p/ ATTORNEY.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In marketing sunglasses at the retail level they are usually displayed on racks or stands commonly of the vertical rotary type which are supported on a single shaft extending from a single pedestal resting on the floor or counter. In certain instances, where larger numbers of sunglasses are to be displayed, such stands are not adequate however. This invention is directed to a fixture which can either rest on the floor counter or be supported on a wall which is adapted to support as many as three or more of these vertical shafts for supporting a like number of rotary display racks.

Specifically the subject fixture comprises a substantially horizontal support bar which has slidably mounted thereon a plurality of specially constructed members which each receive and rotatably support the vertical axial shaft of a rotary display rack. These shaft supporting members each have an upward projecting shaft engaging portion and another portion which slidably engages the horizontal support bar including means to clamp each member in a selected position on the support bar. An important feature of this invention is that a pair of members identical to the shaft receiving members may also be mounted on the support bar, in inverted positions, that is with their shaft engaging portions extending downwardly instead of upwardly, at

FEXTWE FOR SUPI'" each end of the support bar for mounting the bar on its base members. The base members may either stand on the floor or counter or be wall supported in certain instances. The base members also have shaft portions which are received by the downwardly extending shaft engaging portions of the bar mounted slidable members.

Thus it is an object of this invention to provide either wall, or floor or counter type fixtures for supporting a plurality of vertical rotary display racks.

it is another object to provide a fixture wherein identical elements may serve more than one function thus reducing costs since fewer elements are required.

A further object is to provide a fixture featuring simplicity and interchangeability of at least some of the various elements.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the fixtures comprising the features, properties and relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in' the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be hadto the following drawings and description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS I including wall support base members.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of one of the shaft receiving members.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the shaft member.

FIG. 5 is a top base members.

FIG. 6 is a side view of one of the wall members.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. ll of the drawing there is shown the counter or floor supported fixture 10 including a substantially horizontal support bar 12 of predetermined length. As shown the bar 12 has slidably mounted thereon a plurality of shaft receiving members 14.

All of the members 14 are substantially identical and are shown in more detail in FIGS. 3 and 4. The members 14 include a four-sided, open-ended body member 15 surrounding the bar 12 and having an elongated tubular shaft engaging portion 16 projecting outwardly therefrom from one sidewall 18. Opposite the tubular portion extending from sidewall 20 is a clamping means 22 which has a short threaded tubular extension 23 which receives a threaded set screw 24 which when tightened engages bar 12. The members 14 may be slidably positioned anywhere along the length of horizontal support bar upon loosening the screw 24 and then clamped in the desired position by tightening the screw. The two members 14 positioned at each end of the support bar 12 have their shaft engaging portions extending downwardly as shown to engage the base members.

At the beginning of a selling season, for example, all three shaft receiving members 14 as shown in FIG. 1 may be utilized for supporting the axial shafts of rotary sunglass display stands. Later on in the season, or in the receiving plan view of one of the wall support support base off-season, when only one rotary display stand is in use,

a feature of the invention, is the ability to slide the other two of the members 14 out of sight next to the middle member M which may be centered on the horizontal support bar.

The floor or counter base members are shown in FIG. 1 and each member comprises elongated feet members 26 which present enough area to the floor or counter and extend proportionally forward and to the rear of said support bar l2 to give substantial support to the fixture. Extending upwardly from substantially the central portion of feet member 26 is a shaft portion 28 which is received by the shaft engaging portions 16.

FIG. 2 of the drawings, and FIGS. 5 and 6 in particular, show the wall support base members of the invention which each include a bent shaft 30. The shaft 30 is mounted on and extends angularly from a wall mounting channel 32 having several pairs of hook members 34 for engaging a standard wall strip 36 hav ing slots 38 therein for receiving the fixture at a selected height. In the preferred embodiment shown, the shaft 3% extends at an angle of approximately 45 from a plane including the wall the fixture is attached to. The shaft 30 includes a short upwardly extending portion 40 which may be welded, for example, to the mounting channel 32, a horizontal extending portion 42 and an upwardly extending shaft portion 44 which is engaged by the downwardly extending shaft engaging portion 16 of one of the shaft receiving'members 14.

In the preferred embodiment the shaft engaging portions 16 are tubular and the axial rotary shafts of the rotary sunglass display stands may be either solid or tubular so long as they are of a diameter to be received in the tubular opening of portions 16. The shaft portions 28 of the floor or counter base members and the shaft 30 of the wall support base members may likewise be tubular or solid and fit into the tubular opening of the shaft engaging portions 16. Altemately the shaft engaging portions 16 could be solid and the axial rotary shafts of the rotary sunglass display stands could be tubular and of a large enough diameter to slide over the solid portions 16. Likewise the shaft portions 18 of the floor or counter base members and the shaft 30 of the wall support base members could also be tubular and of a diameter to slide over the proposed solid shaft engaging portions 16.

The terms horizontal and vertical as used with regard to the above description refer to the orientation of the fixtures as they normally stand on the counter or floor or are supported on the wall in common use.

While the preferred embodiment of this invention describes a fixture for supporting rotary sunglass racks it is obvious that other rotary racks may be similarly supported by the subject fixture and the invention is directed to all such other applications as well.

Thus it is clear from the above description that the fixtures as described will fulfill the objects of the invention as stated and include many features and advantages not heretofore available in such items.

We claim:

1. A fixture for supporting a plurality of vertical rotary display racks each having a vertical axial shaft member comprising:

a substantially horizontal support bar;

a plurality of shaft receiving members, each having an elongated shaft engaging portion including an annular surface for engaging a shaft along a length of an annular surface thereof and another portion which slidably engages said substantially horizontal support bar;

clamping means on said shaft receiving members for clamping said member in selected positions on said support bar;

at least two of said shaft receiving members having their elongated shaft engaging portion projecting upwardly with respect to said horizontal support bar in position for engaging the vertical axial shafts of at least two vertical rotary sunglass display racks, and at least two of said shaft receiving members having their shaft engaging portions projecting downwardly with respect to said horizontal support bar;and

at least two base members including upwardly extending shaft portions each of which is engaged along a length of an annular surface thereof by said downwardly extending shaft engaging portions, said base members supporting said fixture in its operable position.

2. The fixture as described in claim 1 whereinsaid base members include elongated feet members extending forward and to the rear of said substantially horizontal support bar to give substantial support to the fixture, said upward extending axial shaft extending upwardly from substantially the central portion of said base members.

3. The fixture as described in claim 1 wherein said base members include a wall mounting channel having hooks thereon for engaging a slotted wall strip and a bent shaft connected to said wall mounting channel at one end, the other end of said shaft comprising said upwardly extending shaft portion which is engaged by said downwardly extending shaft engaging portion of one of said shaft receiving members.

4. The fixture as described in claim 1 wherein each of said shaft receiving members are'substantially identical.

$.The fixture as described in claim 4 wherein each of said shaft receiving members comprises a body member at least partially surrounding said substantially horizontal support bar and wherein said shaft engaging portion thereof comprise an elongated tubular portion extending from said body member.

6. The fixture as described in claim 5 wherein said clamping means comprise said body member which has formed therein a threaded opening for receiving a set screw which may be tightened for clamping said shaft receiving member in a desired position along said substantially horizontal support bar. 

1. A fixture for supporting a plurality of vertical rotary display racks each having a vertical axial shaft member comprising: a substantially horizontal support bar; a plurality of shaft receiving members, each having an elongated shaft engaging portion including an annular surface for engaging a shaft along a length of an annular surface thereof and another portion which slidably engages said substantially horizontal support bar; clamping means on said shaft receiving members for clamping said member in selected positions on said support bar; at least two of said shaft receiving members having their elongated shaft engaging portion projecting upwardly with respect to said horizontal support bar in position for engaging the vertical axial shafts of at least two vertical rotary sunglass display racks, and at least two of said shaft receiving members having their shaft engaging portions projecting downwardly with respect to said horizontal support bar;and at least two base members including upwardly extending shaft portions each of which is engaged along a length of an annular surface thereof by said downwardly extending shaft engaging portions, said base members supporting said fixture in its operable position.
 2. The fixture as described in claim 1 wherein said base members include elongated feet members extending forward and to the rear of said substantially horizontal support bar to give substantial support to the fixture, said upward extending axial shaft extending upwardly from substantially the central portion of said base members.
 3. The fixture as described in claim 1 wherein said base members include a wall mounting channel having hooks thereon for engaging a slotted wall strip and a bent shaft connected to said wall mounting channel at one end, the other end of said shaft comprising said upwardly extending shaft portion which is engaged by said downwardly extending shaft engaging portion of one of said shaft receiving members.
 4. The fixture as described in claim 1 wherein each of said shaft receiving members are substantially identical.
 5. The fixture as described in claim 4 wherein each of said shaft receiving members comprises a body member at least partially surrounding said substantially horizontal support bar and wherein said shaft engaging portion thereof comprise an elongated tubular portion extending from said body member.
 6. The fixture as described in claim 5 wherein said clamping means comprise said body member which has formed therein a threaded opening for receiving a set screw which may be tightened for clamping said shaft receiving member in a desired position along said substantially horizontal support bar. 